We are a group of pro-active parents in the Dunedin area of New Zealand who have children with autism.

We are committed to helping organise and fundraise for intensive early interventions which help make easier the lives of affected children and their families.

News events stories
April 22 2010

feedback from Stress and Social Development Workshop

107 people from across the Otago region attended the Stress and Social Development Workshop run by the OCASG on March 13th in Dunedin (see posts below for more info). Parents, caregivers, teachers, teacher aides and other professionals took part in an extremely informative and fun day. Our presenters, Alison Schroeder and Justine Aldous (both of Christchurch) gave the audience a range of strategies and ideas to assist them with the ASD young persons they were either working or living with.  

Comments on the workshop included: 

"Great – practical ideas that are user friendly." 

"I found it really great, good ideas to practice with my son."

"Interesting animated presentation with clear explanations & practical ideas."

"Today was extremely valuable and very practical for our setting." 

"Excellent, informative & well placed presentation." 

The event was made affordable for many to attend thanks to the support of some local schools and kindergartens for a ‘Wacky Hair Day’ fundraising event during June 2009. Participating schools and kindys were each able to send 2 teachers/teachers aides or parents/whanau to the workshop free. We would also like to thank and acknowledge the Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) for helping to make this day possible. 

If you would like to find out more about upcoming workshops our group is running, contact us now and we will keep your name for future reference, and let you know when we have course content and dates confirmed. 

March 07 2010

Reminder: upcoming workshop

The workshop on Stress and Social Development is next Saturday, March 13. 

The focus is on enabling people with ASD to cope with stressful situations and social development.

Here is the PDF with info about the presenters and topics to be covered.

We hope you can make it!


February 24 2010

National standards testing and students with autism

The new NZ national standards (for testing and reporting the attainment of primary school students) are being widely discussed in the media and in education circles. Hilary Stace posted this artlcle on the Humans website. In it, she considers whether the the focus of a system – which measures only literacy and numeracy – would be too narrow for kids with ASD. The author poses other questions, such as whether children with autism might become marginalised in a more competitive environment, and whether assessment and reporting can increase the quality of education for these children.

December 01 2009

Upcoming workshop – March 2010

Stress and Social Development: Enabling people with ASD to cope with stressful situations and social development.

Presented by Alison Schroeder and Justine Aldous.

13th March 2010 at Pacific Park, 22-24 Wallace Street, Dunedin, 9 - 3pm.

cost: $40 family, $60 Professional.

Please download the PDF for more info about this valuable event.

November 18 2009

Welcome to our new site!

We want to provide local people with better info, and help health and education professionals and policy-makers to better understand our stories. Please contact us with any suggestions or questions.
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quick facts
  • The charitable trust was set up in 2004. We rely mostly on grants, donations and our fundraising to pay for therapists’ wages and training, and for education for parents, teachers and the community.
  • The trust focuses on raising funds for Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) therapy. This involves targeted individual learning programmes, and one-on-one teaching in the home, and also in school. Therapy hours are flexible and able to meet the requirements of the child and family.
  • We have great therapists who are terrific with the kids. The therapists are trained and assessed regularly under the umbrella of our service provider, Intervention Services for Autism and Developmental Delay (ISADD).
  • Our children range from pre-school to school age.
  • While ABA is government funded in some countries, it is not yet publicly funded in New Zealand.

Otago Children’s Autism Support Group Contacts

Chairperson

Nicola Herbert
ph: (03) 454 6567
e-mail: nicolaherbert@xtra.co.nz

Secretary

Lynlee von Ballmoos
ph: (03) 453 4812
e-mail: lynlee@vitalcolour.co.nz

Grants Officer

Rachel Mortimer
ph (03) 453 0757
e-mail: morts@xtra.co.nz